“We strictly deal with B-1s and C-130s here,” 1st Lt. William Powell, Dyess spokesman, said. “If it didn’t come from this base, which it didn’t, then I wouldn’t know what kind of aircraft was flying in that area on that date.”

John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert, said he believes the government has thrown up a smokescreen before, like with Area 51 in Nevada, to discredit witnesses.

“If they get people seeing lights all the time, and they don’t know what it is, one way of making the whole thing seem silly is to have people recall flying saucers,” Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said. “And that way the whole story just kind of goes away.”

Area 51 has played a role in modern American mythology about everything from secret military technologies to alien spacecraft. Beliefs vary as to the truth about the southern Nevada location.

Back in the 1950s, the Air Force exploited the UFO scenario to divert attention from the U-2 being tested at a secret base in Nevada, said Bill Sweetman, who’s written extensively on stealth and black technology.

The U-2 was the only aircraft that could fly at such a high altitude for as long as it could, Sweetman, editor of Defense Technology International magazine, said.

“Airline pilots who didn’t know that a secret airplane was out there would see this object way up above them, and they would report it as a UFO,” he said.

Those sightings led to “Project Bluebook,” efforts to make people think they’d seen a natural phenomenon or something unexplainable — not a secret airplane, Sweetman said.

He didn’t want to hazard a guess about whether West Texans have spotted secret aircraft, but he was doubtful.

“Why would you fly it near a populated area at all?” he said.

And it’s impossible to speculate whether the Big Country UFOs were a sign of a secret program, said retired Air Force Col. Tom Ehrhardt, a former Pentagon chief of the “Skunk Works” or the Strategy, Concepts and Doctrine Division.

“That particular location for it seems improbable because, usually, we have more secure sites to do that sort of thing in than there,” said Ehrhardt, now of the nonprofit Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.

Sites such as Area 51, he said.

“But you never want to say this isn’t one of those because I don’t have that knowledge,” Ehrhardt said.

Theories to the contrary, the UFO story hasn’t gone away yet.

“Our initial analysis is that we have at least two very promising pieces of evidence,” Ken Cherry, state director for the nonprofit Mutual UFO Network, said.

Video and still images show spheres in incredible maneuvers at high speed in the Big Country, Cherry said. Others have told MUFON of “a mother ship” a mile long and a half mile wide.

Eyewitnesses are ranchers, farmers, oilfield workers, shop owners, defense workers and others who talk of activity as far back as 30 years ago in the area, he said.

But could fast-moving spheres simply be the afterburners of 10 F-16s?

In an about face, the military said 10 F-16s from the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base were on a training mission Jan. 8 in an area including Erath County.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a fighter wing spokesman, said it was just a mistake when he first told reporters the base had no planes in the sky that day.

I draw you to “Byron Mitchell, a teacher from a local school in this small farming population and a partner in that volunteer MUFON air managed to interview several witnesses of this latest sighting.
According to Mitchell, 8 10 1500 m. Length and width of approximately 700, was an ovoid shape and had a set of lights that constantly changing intensity as it approached the 4 military planes to chase.
Byron Mitchell continued describing in his report: There were more than 200 witnesses who saw the object flying at low altitude, describing it as solid-metal, without marks or cracks, in one piece, apparently did not generate any sound, but others claim that they heard a slight buzz, was probably silenced by the noise of aircraft to chase” (translated extract to article) …..

It gives us some possibly new information, but am unsure as to the reliability of the source.

According to MTV.com “Indy 4 masterminds open up about Supernatural skull” (posted 2 january,2008) it mentions that the latest film of Indiana jones will be like the X-files? but is definately set in 1957. The cast are, however keeping tight lipped about much of what the film will contain.

“Besides possibly giving Indy more of a family, the movie also gives our hero more supernatural material than ever before. “Indiana Jones [movies] aren’t action movies,” Lucas tells the mag. “They’re primarily mysteries with a supernatural object. So it’s kind of like ‘X-Files.’ ‘X-Files’ came out of this idea — instead of taking archaeological objects, they took Bigfoot and aliens and psychological mythology instead of the physical — but it amounts to the same thing.”

And there could be more overlap than ever before — especially when it comes to those pesky aliens. Combining the movie’s time frame (1957) with one of the flick’s shooting locations (New Mexico) seems to indicate an Area 51 theme. “It’s important for us that there’s a real supernatural mystery going on,” Lucas said. “Only Indiana Jones movies are supernatural-mystery movies. They’re always going after some supernatural object. It’s not a pretend object. It’s not something that we made up. It’s something that actually exists, or people believe exists — whether it does or not is in dispute. But for every person who says, ‘I don’t believe that,’ there’s another person who says, ‘Well, I believe it. I heard about it, and I saw it and there’s stories.’ “(extract from article).

I thought it would be good, to correlate all the information, that has been collected on this sighting, and pull it all together, and try and see what we have? If there is anything i have missed, please alert me to this, and i’ll ammend the records. (please also see my other posts on this site for more added details).

Sighting:

The main sighting that sparked media interest= January 8th 2008; between 6.15pm + 4.30am (9th january). However, it seems to have also happened over several days, up to the 10th january, i believe.

WITNESSES:

40 + in Stephenville area (including piolt/business owners/county constable). Later, as events unfold, it seems the UFO was also seen in San Antonio, Victoria + Corpus Christi (also on the 8th january). At San Antonio – cigar shaped ufo with a multitude of lights present (information from MUFON).

WHAT:

UFO – MOST COMMON among varied reports were;

very bright lights (lights similar to strobe lights), low and fast moving, no noise.

some accounts below:

” lights spanned about a mile long, half a mile wide….lights went from corner to corner” and that it’s speed was approx 3000 mph.

red glowing lights then white flashing lights…. dancing around appeared, reappeared. spread out in the sky, formed formation, then took off at high speed; it appeared attached.

Some suggest that ufo was chased by jets (possibly F-16s). One witness saw very bright yellow lights.

OFFICIAL RESPONSE:

Military: No airplanes in the air that night: said ufo was an illusion caused by 2 commercial airplanes.

MUFON get involved; seems like Chicago/O’Hare airport + Pheonix lights – authorities are covering up something? what is it, is the question?

January 18th – MUFON investigators arrive at Dublin to take witness statements/accounts (in detail). Alot of media there to cover the event.

I also made checks on NASA (recent debris) database site – no man made space debris, re-entering on that date/or near that date.

Larry King show – several programmes to this event shown.

Cell phone photo – (seems to be a dog star and unrelated).

Then most significantly, 2 weeks after event, military changes its story; It says it had 10 F-16s from the 457th fighter squad training between 6 and 8pm, in Brownwoods military operating area (which it says includes Erath County).

Witnesses + MUFON says this enhances their story…as some say ufo chased by fighter planes. Many say this U- turn is a cover up?

MUFON to travel to San Antonio area to gather more eye witness accounts.

Recently it has come to light that, the Air Force could have been protecting the Presidential Ranch- edge of restricted zone (clas D air space), 16 miles SE of Stephenville. I do not understand why the local press did not pick up on this earlier? this is significant information…. i for one did not realise it was this close to Stephenville.

CONCLUSION:

Whatever happened at Stephenville, the government are not telling us what the hell is going on? i’m afraid. Unless, of course they take us for being stupid.

For instance, i did a little research on F-16 combat formations…. admittedly the most useful i found was from 1996, but it gave some interesting facts. It mentioned that “the basic combat formation employed by tactical fighters is the four-ship flight. The two-ship element is the basic flight unit….. [.] there is a need for both line abreast and wedge formations” (p22). Goes into great detail, with diagrams of the different formations used. Also it says that “Adding additional four-ships to increase to 8-12 jets has been combat tested with some controversial success”. See here for source.

So basically, this is a rarity, and not often used. SO we can conclude that this is:

not one formation (very unlikely-not totally impossible, but very rare)

This sighting along with the O’Hare airport incident, and the Pheonix lights has got some asking “are these sightings related in any way?” Also they seem to follow a similar pattern as far as the government/military are concerned. Cover stories tried, then hoaxing/disinformation is made to try to calm the incident down at a slightly later date ( to be honest this is so easy, it’s annoying, lol)…. it works?

Also, there are similar accounts of the ufo sighting, but there are also conflicting accounts of the ufo sighting. Why?

Is the military hiding a black op secret plane being tested? if so, why near public? possibly to test our reaction to it, maybe?

Also i say again

1 Why is a training exercise classified? as they will not go into operational procedures, not even the basics? Possibly because near the presidential ranch?

2 F-16s do not hover (unless i am wrong in this).

3 F-16s create sound ! and lots of it.

4 F-16s are not 1 mile wide.

Remember, all we are trying to establish here, is whether it is an UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) nothing more at this stage.

Maybe, the media should attempt to contact the F-16 pilots and ask them for a response (unlikely due to national security issues, i should imagine, but worth a try). Ask for a copy of their communications with ground controllers (AWACS). I hope they will generally put the heat up a bit, and apply pressure…. we need answers to our questions?

I’m also waiting for the Air Force, to next say that flares where used (does this sound familiar), especially using them in populated areas.

Also MUFON has had eye witness accounts, from the same time period, either side of the 8th january, in other areas, all with the similar accounts to Stephenville… were their trained F-16s all over the place? Also, did the training last for longer than january 8th? it would have had too.

Will the Air Force hide behind classified information, and National Security, to bluff their way out of this one. Again, i say we need answers to questions? whether we will get them is another matter?

“OUTSIDE his Newport home, a former RAF technician could not help but see a low-flying aeroplane — or was it?
Frank Webb, 69, of Terrace Road, watched as the brightly-lit craft moved from west to east across the clear night sky at around 8.20pm last night (Sunday).
But then he noticed the craft had no navigation lights and made no sound.
Mr Webb claims the craft was an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO).
“”I would call it a UFO, but only because it was, to me, unidentified,”” he said” (extract from article). If you did see anything, contact their newsdesk or e-mail them.

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More serious debate, has been carrying on, after the UFO sighting of january 8th).

There is an excellent article on ufodigest.com entitled “is there no end to the excuses we’re given” (26th january,2008). It is a well written account, of what the military and people in authority are not telling us. Near the end it says:

“In all my years of doing research, I thought the Air Force had shot themselves in the foot several times, particularly with the 1997 “crash test dummies” excuse for Roswell, but I really believe they have outdone themselves with the Stephenville Texas sighting, by not accounting for ten F-16s for two weeks. How much longer will the American public have to put up with the excuses we are being given, when all we want to know is what is actually being seen by credible people who help to pay the salaries of these individuals in authority, that continue to give us lame excuses. It’s time for accountability” (extract from article).

“Some time back, I wrote that there cannot be a massive government conspiracy to keep a lid on knowledge of UFOs because our government cannot keep a secret. I’ll admit to having changed my mind.

While the bulk of the supposed sightings across the globe are probably either false alarms or hoaxes, too many of them have the ring of believability to be false. Too many people with nothing to gain by fabricating a UFO story have reported sightings in good faith. Far too many of these stories describe one or more of the same types of objects – either cigar-shaped or spherical, and either glowing from within or illuminated by banks of colorful lights” (extract from article).

Ok.. the usual weekly update, has gone out the window, with the present Stephenville ufo sighting taking up most of my time. This update is following on from the last one – 13th january (i think).

To start us off, the dorito UFOs are back again (labelled by the local media, need i say more) in “Shape of things to come?” which were seen in Dudley (expressandstar.com, posted 11th january,2008).

However, by the 16th january the same media put out this article “Is there plane truth behind the UFOs“.In the article, it mentions, that a sonic boom was also heard in the area, and there were reports of a Typhoon Eurofighter not working properly, making the pilot drop 30,000 ft (which is why the boom was heard).

The aircraft is similar to a triangular shape… many people rang the police, but of course the MOD denied that a fighter plane was in the area. The article then goes on to mention previous sightings.

yorkshirepost.co.uk features “The truth is out there….but its a bit of a let down” (posted 22nd january,2008). it says “The Ministry of Defence is about to open its UFO files, but the contents threaten to reveal more about Cold War blunders than extraterrestrials” (extract from article).

It mentions “Unless something out of this world landed on the front lawn in the middle of the day with scores of people observing, most of us would be loath to face the public by saying you believe in UFOs.
Discussing UFOs and aliens also tends to make people feel like they’re crossing a forbidden theological topic.
And, finally, some folks would rather say no to UFOs and avoid giving the subject much thought.
Unless the aforementioned example of the front-lawn spacecraft landing applies, UFOs are out of sight and out of mind for many” (extract from article). How true….
At chad.co.uk there is “Balls of fire UFOs caught on video” (posted 15th january,2008). The video is below…. i’ll leave it up to you; what do you think this is? from shirebrook.

Also worth a look -although the video is from the tv(with a camcorder), at an angle, it is worth listening too

Although caution, must be made… for instance, the second one could be a hoax; and anyway, what are they? if not. My gut instinct, says that it is a hoax, but that is all.
Finally “Life on mars, the proof” (posted 23rd january,2008). I’m afraid it is not; the process of taking the photo is a long and complex one…. it takes at least 2 minutes to do (as it is a panoramic view), and this shot from the article, is only of a small part of the overall scene.

It seems that the UFOs were not just confined to Stephenville, but were seen in San Antonio, Victoria and even at Corpus christi.Walter Andrus Junior, (from MUFON)mentions that on the 8th january, something else was going on at San Antonio…. a UFO was seen at Interstate 10 and Wurzbach road. They reported seeing a cigar shaped UFO, with a multitude of lights.

He then goes on to mention that MUFON, will now talk to these people as well (that is from San Antonio, Victoria and near Corpus Christi). The report of all this, looks like it will not be ready until the end of 2008 now. It does not say what the witnesses say at Victoria or near Corpus Christi?

Not sure of the relevance of this, but thought it wise to mention this on here.

image below is of an F-15 (not F-16 sorry) that is vertical deploying flares during the day

“Ten F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were performing training operations between 6 and 8 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the Brownwood military operating area, which includes Erath County.

“”In the interest of public awareness, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs realized an error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft,”” said today’s press release from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth” (extract from article).

cbs5.com “Texas UFO Mystery Solved?” (posted 23rd january, 2008) …. “Originally, the 301st Fighter Wing at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base said none of its jets were in the area that night” (extract from article).

chron.com “Military now says jets in area of reported UFO sightings” (posted 23rd january, 2008, with more information on this article) ; of interest “”This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area,”” said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. “”I find it curious that it took them two weeks to ‘fess up. I think they’re feeling the heat from the publicity”” (extract from article).

Also from chron.com “Military says planes in area of Texas ufo reports (with video) “ (posted 23rd january, 2008). “Allen said that the planes’ training area in the Brownwood Military Operating Area that includes Stephenville’s Erath County does not include the airspace where he saw the object. Also, Jan. 8 was not the only day sightings were reported” (extract from article) and “Some residents aren’t buying it, though, saying the military’s revelation actually bolsters their claims because several reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object” (extract from article).

“”I think it’s a little late … then there is a comment here about an error. The military isn’t supposed to make errors. I think it’s just a standard cover up. That is immediately what I am thinking … some kind of cover up,”” said Hudgeons. “”With the lights going around as quick as they said they were … I just don’t see them being aircraft””.

If the lights were military aircraft, Hudgeons wants to see them again, NBC 5’s Omar Villafranca reported” (extract from article).

“Meanwhile, WOAI Radio in San Antonio reported that UFO sightings took place that same night over the city and were seen by dozens of witnesses. The Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON, reported that accounts were coming in as far away as Corpus Christi, all identifying similar UFO characteristics as the lights seen over Stephenville earlier that night.

MUFON’s Texas chapter website carries eyewitness accounts of UFO sightings taking place the following evening and again on January 10th, reporting similar characteristics of bight lights, no sound and rapid high-speed travel” (extract from article- also warrants analysis by me, and a post soon).

dallasnews.com “Texas UFO mystery solved” (posted 24th january,2008) ; I have added a quite long extract from this article as it has some very good points (and brings up an old theory)….

“One battle tactic used routinely by F-16s involves the ejection of flares that are intended to confuse heat-seeking missiles. The flares can be ejected several at a time, and could form a pattern of bright lights traveling across the sky.

But such activity would not match other aspects of the descriptions of the Stephenville lights. Witnesses generally described what they saw as silent, apparently changing speeds and passing over populated areas. That does not sound like a flare release, said Jay Miller, an aviation consultant and historian in Fort Worth.

For one thing, any jet that dumps flares would also be trying to get away as fast as possible.

“He’s going to be in full afterburner,” Mr. Miller said, and that’s very loud. But the jets wouldn’t be the only noise associated with flares.

There are other articles, but many are either very brief, and/or cover the same ground.

You may well ask, what is going on? and to be honest so do i?

To start with, what disturbs me, is the fact that the Air Force takes 2 weeks to do a U-turn and then admit that 10 F-16s were in the air; of course, the obvious question to be asked here is, were they in the air around this area (between 6 and 8pm), and if they were, were they chasing these UFOs.

So basically, is it a cover-up story, to try to knock the stuffing out of the story; problem is, that there may be a flip side to this, and it might (hopefully) highten the story for more answers by the military.

Hudgeons (from MUFON) makes a very valid point, in that, if this was the Air Force, then there should be no problem redoing/recreating the event for all to see (would never happen mind, but i like his thinking/method).

At this point, i ask these questions……

1 Why is a training exercise classified? as they will not go into operational procedures, not even the basics?

2 F-16s do not hover (unless i am wrong in this).

3 F-16s create sound ! and lots of it.

4 F-16s are not 1 mile wide.

Remember, all we are trying to establish here, is whether it is an UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) nothing more at this stage.

Maybe, the media should attempt to contact the F-16 pilots and ask them for a response (unlikely due to national security issues, i should imagine, but worth a try). Ask for a copy of their communications with ground controllers (AWACS). I hope they will generally put the heat up a bit, and apply pressure…. we need answers to our questions?

I’m also waiting for the Air Force, to next say that flares where used (does this sound familiar), see extract from dallasnews.com (Texas ufo mystery solved, in red writing)… this all has very good questions to be asked, if the time arises, especially using them in populated areas.

Also MUFON has had eye witness accounts, from the same time period, either side of the 8th january, in other areas, all with the similar accounts to Stephenville… were their trained F-16s all over the place? I believe MUFON will soon be interviewing these witnesses too, soon.

Will the Air Force hide behind classified information, and National Security, to bluff their way out of this one. Again, i say we need answers to questions? whether we will get them is another matter?

What do you think is going on? is it a cover-up? is it that they are hiding tested super secret stealth aircraft, with F-16s tailing it, to test the local populations reaction to it? is it an IFO (identified flying object)? Is it a UFO? are you worried that the Air Force does not seem to know where the hell (supposedly) their planes are?

Probably the most outstanding documentary on ufo’s “out of the blue” (a must watch video) Please be aware that the page might take a while to load, due to the amount of videos on here…however, they probably will be fine…lol

UFO The greatest story ever denied : a half decent video, however quite a few, must have ufo incidents are missing..

The secret NASA transmissions- the smoking gun : this will be debated for a long time? makes you wonder though.

Dan Ackroyd and UFOs on CNN (june 9th,2006); he shares his views on UFOs- he inspires you to know more. (not sure after this interview- extra footage not of interest to me). The whole thing is just over 9 mins though.

Dan Ackroyd Unplugged on UFOs : a must watch video, which will get you thinking.

Although these videos can be seen at the present time, there is no guarantee that they will be there in the forseeable future… so if videos are unable to play, then i will endeavour/do my best to find new links to this, but may not be able too. Hope this opens your mind too all possibilities…obviously, yes videos are good to watch,but ideally, if you are really interested; then to get all the facts, try to seek out documentation and papers on the subjects involved…. I will be over the coming months try to add links to reliable sources….